http://www.nola.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2017/03/duck_hunter_numbers_declining.html

I will be danged.

I reckon I would really enjoy duck hunting down south.

Hell, you could trade the duck meat for crawdads.

Good read. Thanks for posting.

Ducks Unlimited took their concept from Trout Unlimited and released the ducks after they were shot. Once they found out you are supposed to keep the ducks they shot, hunter numbers are certain to plummet. Eating a duck is eating a tire.

Delicious if they have been feeding on grain or acorns and are cooked properly. Miserable if they have been living on lakes and eating minnows.

Tires are tough. Tough ducks are overcooked, as are tough doves or most anything else.

Cut the meat into small chunks and make chili. About the only way I can eat wild duck.

Waterfowl hunting is booming here but it is mainly those coming from other areas to take advantage of earlier seasons.

Sort of faded out of that scene. Federal stamps, state stamps, non toxic shot, and reporting requirements seemed to make it a hassle and a bit expensive.

Do not care for duck. Pain to fix it.

Duck is good

Duck is about as simple as it gets to cook.

Duck hunting has become too danged expensive.

I think another part to the decline is the costs involved, having to use steel shot which isn't cheap, Hunting licenses are pushing 50 bucks with another 50 bucks for the Fed and State stamps. Even the Federal Refuges that allow hunting have gotten cost prohibitive for most people.

The study cites a lack of good places to hunt as the primary reason hunters give for no longer going.
Personally, I would add that there are multiple skills involved in bringing a duck from wing to table.
Requires some level of marksmanship, often requires excellent dogs or some other means of retrieval, and cooking ducks is not easy and takes some culinary talent.

I read once that duck is best cooked about medium-rare.

Anything past that is ruined....or so they said.


Absolute truth for beef.....stands to reason it would be true for duck.

Texas High Plains season, Oct 28,29 and then Nov 3 to Jan 28.
North Zone Nov 11-26 then Dec 2-Jan 28.
You believe that crap? You think they arent trying to nail someone in the few days of off season?
I wonder how many young men just pass on the $25 duck stamp if they may only get an outside chance at one or two ducks a year while deer or squirrel hunting.

Take a two or three ducks and half a chicken in a pressure cooker for 20-30 min. Pour off the fat and cook the rice or dumplings in the juice. Pretty simple. Or, leave out the chicken, debone duck meat, mix duck and the juice in the cornbread dressing mix. Slap yo mama good.

If you're not drawing blood on the knife, the duck is over cooked.

Millard (assuming it ain't been feeding on salmon eggs), teal and wood duck are my favorites, with wood duck being #1.

Brown it in a cast iron pot with a little oil, only takes a few minutes, I then set it atop some sliced apples and stick it in a 500 degree over for 10-20 minutes depending on size of duck

Divers make gumbo or sauce piquant.

Back in the eighties I was a big time deer hunter in central Georgia. Shot lots, and lots of 'em.
Two of my deer hunting buddies were also big time duck hunters.
What a hassle! They had to buy all those decoys, and those calls, plus camo, duck stamp etc etc.

Had to go out at 4 am to some little beaver pond and stand there in the cold, hoping to get a shot.
I was never the slightest bit interested in duck hunting. I never went, though I was invited many times. I have never owned a shotgun.
I must say, those central Ga. wood ducks were delicious! I have eaten lots of 'em. My buddies roasted them in the oven.

Don't know if my buddies are still going after the wood ducks I lost touch with both of them.

Call em "free range ducks", and folks will be lining up.

I'm not surprised. It takes a little more effort to hunt ducks successfully and regularly than some other wild fowl -- up at dark-early or there at dark-late, or scouting the right field with permission. Decoys. Boats. Waders. Too much work for too many now.

And, as mentioned, waterfowl can take on the quality of semi-resurrected, bad, mammalian liver if not prepared properly both in deed and in mind.

But, I've found, for me, the small puddle ducks like teal and woodies to be quite good and Canadians too.

I'll never forget back in my earnest youth trying to roast snow goose (sky carp as one friend puts it) and on another occasion scaup -- two separate experiences that forever scalded several minds to ever trying waterfowl -- "ducks" -- again, and that were blamed for the next year's poor landscaping.

I see two reasons why hunter numbers are decreasing.
From my experience most hunters nowadays do not want to put in the work required to successfully hunt ducks. They do not want to get up well before dawn and get the deeke's set up and take them in when done. Duck hunting involves a lot of work and money.

The second reason is that hunters are tired of the lies that the government and DU has been putting out about duck numbers. The migration is never close to what they predict. I'm sure the numbers are good down south but the northern Mississippi and Missouri flyway do not get the migrations like they say they will.

Add up lots of work and money and low bird numbers and anyone but die hard duck hunters will find other things to do.

I don't hunt ducks often anymore and I miss it some. I have fond memories of cold foggy mornings,sitting in a duck blind waiting for shooting light and listening to the sounds of wings and the whistling sounds the pintail ducks made as they glided over our pond. Buck (my lab) and I spent a lot of great mornings together.

Yep, acorn fed woodies are the best. Im going to try that recipe, Steel.

Also, try peeling the meat off the breast bone, skin, slice 1/2 inch fillets across the grain and roll in flour and chicken fry. Tastes similar to fried back strap.
I sometimes gut the bird, put in a plastic bag for a week in the fridge if its not cold enough to hang outside a few days. Tender.
I can grill those 2 skinned breast pieces on the grill, marinated or not. Same with dark geese.

Scroll down to easy duck strips. I love cooking wood ducks like this. and it can't be any easier.

https://www.realtree.com/waterfowl-hunting/articles/duck-dinner-in-30-minutes

Duck is great table fare when not over cooked. As stated anything past medium rare is over cooked. Whole ducks barbecued or duck breast marinated and wrapped in bacon. Good stuff.

All we ever do is breast them out, thrown it in a frying pan with butter blazing hot, cook until it stops bleeding, then eat it with some rice and berry jelly. My kids love it.

Blue wing teal are the best IMO.

Another vote for woodies. Best duck EVER!

I love it when you pick up a wood duck and it's gizzard feels like a sack full of marbles with all the acorns in it.

I do believe some of my biggest adventures revolved around chasing ducks. From sunk boats, near sunk boats, taking the wrong fork in a river and having to portage the boat about every 100 yards, damn near frozen to death and duck plucking gals in south Louisiana with the clap.

friend of mine, nicknamed "duck" claims the only way to cook duck is at 500 degrees for 15 minutes.says its the best way he has found in 50 years of duck hunting.

" damn near frozen to death and duck plucking gals in south Louisiana with the clap."

That sounds like quite an adventure, steelhead! Did you say "duck plucking gals" or, "duck [bleep] gals?"
How did these gals get the clap? How did you learn that they had the clap?

I gave duck hunting when I lost my spot on the Animas River. About 200 yards up river they built a million $ home. I gave up DU a few years after that. DU hasn't forgotten me--I get an invitation to the banquet every year.

Love to eat duck. The whole regulatory rigemarole "tap dance on your left foot, clap with your right hand, get a permission slip from your first grade teacher and a recommendation from your HOA presidents wife" thing isn't worth it. Never did figure it out.

That and getting up in the cold and dark and freezing your tukus off.....

I can easily understand the decline in duck hunter numbers. In the 70's, I was the most avid duck hunter on the North American Continent. During the season, I was out there every opportunity I had. I bought all the gear, went to all the great duck hunting states, joined DU, went to banquets, sold raffle tickets, etc. Then came the push for banning lead shot. Suddenly the price of everything started going up. A box of 10 shells cost as much as a box of 25 did previously. States got into issuing duck stamps. Price of gasoline skyrocketed. Autoloading shotguns started going for around 1K. Well, you get the picture. Then came the move to "points" instead of a bag limit, all of a sudden I needed a calculator to determine how many ducks I could kill. Duck hunting became a bureaucratic hassle that I would just as soon avoid. No wonder kids just aren't into it, it takes a genius to figure out how to duck hunt without going broke or running afoul of the law. (Pun intended)

So now I am a deer and squirrel hunter. I can do it on state wildlife management areas, and since I have a lifetime license, the cost for that is not and issue. I can pursue my chosen game with a cheap bolt action rifle (either 22 LR or 30-06). I don't have to travel out of state because my state has one of the longest seasons in the US of A. I don't have to invest in premium ammo mandated by some government agency, and, I don't have to buy a special stamp and affix it to my hunting license.

I must say, one of my Georgia duck hunting buddies moved up to South Dakota. Up there, he started hunting Canada Geese.
I don't know if they had wood ducks up there, or what the deal was, like I said I don't know Jack about shotgun hunting.
But I went up and visited Dwight back in 2000, and he had nailed a couple of Canada Geese.

His wife cut them up into chunks and deep fried them, and served them up. About 5 pounds of Geese McNuggets sitting on that platter.
Damn, was that some good food! Had some honey-mustard sauce, good Lord was that good eating.
Plus, a goose has ten times the meat of a little wood duck.

My buddy cooks all his geese like that.

I have no problem killing ducks with cheap steel. I rarely spend over 100 bucks a case on shells, unless it's 10 gauge

A stamp is 25 bucks and one of the best habitat funding investments anyone can do.


We seem to have s growing population of waterfowlers here, and I'm not sure that's a good thing.

They don't know the tradutions, and spend way too much on designer facepaint.

But nothing beats a cold wind driven day watching over 3-400 diver decoys. On the big water

Unless it'swoodies dropping into a swamp on top of your blocks

I love to hunt 'em. I love to hunt them more now that I have a hunting partner who has a layout boat and a dog. No more daredevil retrieves in icy waters for me.

# 2 Fasteel isn't very expensive, yet worth every penny.

Puddle ducks are fine table fare, most folks overcook the crap out of them. YMMV.

Easiest has to be boning them out and grinding them, taco tuesday every week here.

Would be interested in some good goose recipes, they are thick here....

^^^This.^^^ Overcooked duck is tough as leather. Rare to medium rare is about perfect.

Flash fry at high heat, grill with bacon, marinated and grilled for fajitas, slow cooked for pulled duck bbq, plucked and roasted with wine and wild rice, even duck jerky or sausage sticks. Gumbo made with divers is a treat after a cold wet day in a duck blind.

lol, I don't know of a single duck hunter that actully eats them.

Just drive around with em piled up in the bed of your dodge 2500 for 4-5 days and toss em the dumpster behind the China King buffet.

Hahaha!!

Blue norther with sleet stinging your face and snow blowing sideways on the Pecos River in West Texas with the mallards, pintails, redheads and canvas backs coming in to the deeks all day. Heaven on earth.

In high school my younger cousin and i would get his mom to drop us off at daylight on the Piney Creek bridge on Hwy 59 north of Corrigan in East Texas. We had 10-12 miles to cover up the creek by dark, for her to pick us up. Squirrels and ducks died. The woodies jumped from the bends were either shot or shot at cutting up through the pinoaks and sycamore and black gum trunks and limbs-spot shooting at its best, which precluded ever learning to "swing through", at least without often stopping the swing to fire.

Getting to the Iron Bridge early meant building a fire and each of us spitting a duck or squirrel over it and watching the juices sizzle in the inferno below. After all day with nothing more than an orange or apple they tasted simply wonderful with no salt or pepper.

I have a to call a bit of BS on declining duck hunter numbers. I haven't missed an opening day in 42 years. I believe after the initial decline, the numbers have stabilized.

If I'm not in the marsh overnight or even at 3am, I'm not going to get a decent spot. That goes for anywhere on public land or waters in the state. If you can find a good mallard feed on private land, good luck getting permission as a number of hunters have already asked. Couple that with the new Duck Dynasty crowd in their beards and blackened faces wearing black hoodies with brand logos on them, I think the new hunting generation is well represented.

Duck hunters need lots of gear. Duck boats with blinds and mud motors, layout blinds, expensive flocked decoys, robo-ducks, Gore-tex clothes, waders, the latest "B" Italian auto-loading shotgun for $2K, some Heavy shot or Bismuth, a couple 3 custom acrylic calls, and it adds up fast. Add to that around $50 in licenses and it's not for the casual hunter.

But I enjoy it and now my boy does too. We just had his final youth hunt this past weekend. He got 3 woodies and a greenwing Sat morning. We had 'em in a piping hot iron skillet for lunch with some Uncle Bens - his call. Can't get any better than that.

Fun to hunt....miserable to eat.

Been hunting ducks and geese here on Saginaw Bay since 1967. It is and will always be my # 1 passion. Have seen both duck, and hunter numbers cycle up and down more than a time or two. Not many of us old school guys left anymore. Lots of yuppies with $200.00 calls they can't run, $600.00 waders, and $35,000.00 boats. Seems as though a lot of the newer crowd have no respect for anyone or anything, kinda like I'm here now so get the fugg outa the way. Must agree, places to hunt are pretty hard to come by anymore. Thank goodness the bayshore is public and pretty large, although some spots are better than others. As far as the high duck numbers I just don't see it AT ALL here in Mich.. Headed up to the UP for the opener on Munuscong Bay, then Black Lake, then home to Saginaw Bay so I hunt a lot of places. Like someone said maybe the numbers down south are up (I hope so) but I don't see it here.

I eat both wild ducks and geese. There are several species of duck that I don't eat. I don't shoot those species, unless I need to freeze birds for retriever training.



As to the decline of waterfowling, I have two thoughts.

1. Modern archery hunting created many more deer hunting days. Prime waterfowl hunting hours overlap with prime deer hunting hours. Whitetail deer populations have been healthy and in many cases increasing. Waterfowl populations continue to fluctuate by species and flyway. Residential development has negatively effected waterfowl hunting areas to a much greater degree than it has whitetail archery hunting areas. I wouldn't be surprised to see a correlation between a rise in archery hunting for whitetails with a decline in waterfowling.

2. Duck hunting is sort of a younger man's game and these days, most younger men are pussies.

Some great memories duck hunting, but stopped duck hunting for some reason. Maybe this year is my year to get back into it.

I say BS on declining numbers... All you gotta do is show up opening day for the BAYOU METO Blast off!!! I'm surprised there hasn't been anyone killed. Check youtube for some of the videos. I'll never set foot in there again, just because of all the crap that goes on there. Most of my duck hunting now consists of a small wood duck spot I got on some family property. 20ga SxS, some bismuth, and 15 mins of fast shooting. I just can't deal with the crowds, and the ones that simply don't know not to set up 75yrds away from you.

As far as table fare goes... Duck is one of those things that can get ruined cooking, and quick like.

Here's what we do.

Remove the breast from 6 ducks. Split each breast into 3 equal pcs. Brine in a covered bowl overnight. 3/4 cup of salt to 6qts of water.
Remove from brine, and place in plastic zip loc bag. Cover with Allegro marinade, and a couple drops of liquid smoke. Let it marinade for at least 2 hrs. Longer the better.
Pre cook some bacon in the microwave, about 2-3 mins. Not so long that it gets stiff. Place spring onion, or whatever veggies you like on the breast strip, then wrap with the bacon. Secure with toothpick.
Cook over charcoal, low heat, about 300 degs, JUST until the bacon is done. The breast strips should be med-rare.
If you don't like this, there ain't no help for ya. I've had folks turn down ribeyes, for more of this duck.

Love duck hunting. A bit different here in Canada though. Lots of areas to hunt, either wetlands or field shoots. No access fees or leases to deal with, just a chat with the farmer and you are usually golden, just be respectful.

No denying the cost of gear anywhere but where I hunt in Alberta, all I need are a couple dozen decoys, layout blind and waders. Occ. I need my canoe but I would own one regardless of my waterfowling cause it great to fly fish from. Chasing Snows is a bit more intense/costly but it is what it is. Tons of fun.

I hate to say it but, the only times I have run into ignorant, get the "F" outta my types were a few guys with California plates on the truck. Were trespassing as well but thought they knew better than I did. Sucked to be them when the landowner arrived as we discussed access. I was hunting with the owner LOL.
Had one other run in with a group from the States, black hoodie types with the big truck/trailer full of decoys and all decked out with decals. Told me I shooting up "their roost" on public land. Ordered me off the property, that didn;t happen. Seemed to me they were guiding but couldn't be sure. Roost was a few miles away on the Bow River, had they scouted they would have known this.

Most folks are great though. Out for a good time, love the action, love the habitat types. I don't see numbers dropping here.

i love hunting ducks, i'll blow off deer hunting to go duck hunting.

Myself and a few buddies flew across Cook Inlet to our duck shack for opening weekend. Got about 40 ducks throughout the weekend.

We always marinade the ducks in Italian dressing in a ziplock. We then cut up mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, onions and peppers and marinade in Italian dressing in a separate ziplock. We then shishkabob on the grill to medium rare. Never overcook!

We happily had juice running down our chins for 3 straight nights over cocktails.

Forgot to mention we wrap the duck in bacon.

All right, and thanks.

The worst thing about eating ducks is-they dont taste like shickken. If the suckers tasted like shickken, everyone would lovem.

Havent seen a bloody duck all year!

That is a hell of a good sounding recipe.

Tractors big enough to pull meaningful scrapers have greatly concentrated ducks to year-round waterholes and shifted the central flyway significantly West. Mandated non-tox shot was also a giant blow to hunter numbers. When I was in grade school and lead was legal, almost everyone my dad hunted with loaded their own shotgun shells. Non-tox became mandatory and the number of shotshell handloaders dropped way off. Cheaper to quit hunting waterfowl and buy a few boxes of lead for upland game.

I used to be DIE HARD. I lived for duck season, traveled everywhere, and hunted like a mad man. Cost, and time, was no object, even in college.

I was heavily involved in Delta Waterfowl, DU, CWA, and other organizations.

I even created one of the first, biggest duck hunting websites on the net in the mid-90's, and was one of the first on SPAV. Either on-line or in person hunted, fought, hung out with, became great friends with, or cussed all of the old names: Hoosier Jim, Benny, Duck Undertaker, Dr. Duck, Gator Joe, Steel 3's, Mayo, Mudhen, Doc Hull, duck guru, WuChang, and too many others to list. Most of you have no idea what I am talking about. A few of you know that was the hayday of duck hunting on the web.

I bet I met 75 of those guys in person, and hunted with at least 25 of them. Most of them were/are great guys, but there were a few whack-jobs in the group for sure.

Then, I got married. Instant kids. Priorities changed, but I still hunted hard, 1 or 2 days a week instead of 4 or 5 days a week.

Then, I got a little older, and getting up at 3AM to drive 2 hours to get a decent spot before shoot time started to lose it's allure, but I still hunted ducks a bit.

And now, frankly, I want to get into the countryside to relax, have some peace, and not deal with a rat race. ON the busy days, I hated the yelling at 4AM because guys are setting up on top of eachother, I I don't want to listen to someone else's music in the parking lots at o'dark thirty, and I don't want to footrace to some pond at a popular spot.

Because of all that, I took a hiatus. I haven't shot a duck in 3 years, and instead I have been big game hunting where I can get lost and enjoy some peace. I don't enjoy the hunting as much, but I enjoy the hours/effort/quiet much more.

But I have missed the ducks, and this year I have 4 young friends who want to learn to hunt waterfowl, which has brought the fire back and given me a reason to dust off the decoys.

We'll see how it goes, but I am looking forward to it!

--Duck911

It Is hard to beat a good flooded timber hunt for Woodies and Mallards. Both are great eating IMHO. Our group does the typical marinate, wrap in bacon, then fry or grill. We will pass a platter around the fire until everything is gone. This is part of what makes duck camp so special.

I love hunting ducks and have for many years. However, 1 by 1, my partners either moved away or gave up the ducks. It kind of lost its allure when I had to hunt alone. When my last duck dog died, I haven't replaced her and likely won't. I do miss it, though.

For me it's all about logistics.

What used to be a 20 minute drive and 2 hour soiree is now a 4 hour drive and 6 hour soiree. Not sure where all the ducks went or where all the traffic came from.

Corporate life and population expansion sux!! But I still enjoy being out there when I can even get out there. Especially, if it's all day.

I started duck hunting when stationed in WA State and there was a huge amount of public land or farmers that were willing to let you hunt within 30 minutes. Lots and lots of ducks and some really good times, although as Steelhead says, some damn scary times too hunting tidal water up there.

Shift to the east coast and you find in MD, VA, DE very little public waterfowl and what is there is crowded. I got active in DU and even after five years no real ins. Leases around for large large dollars. I pretty much gave it up although I still have a bag with a couple dozen dekes in the garage.

Heading to Alberta here in a couple weeks for some duck and goose and it reminds me of how much I love it (and eating them!) and that in retirement (not in MD!) I'm hoping I can find some small backwaters that I can get a little shooting in.

I also do it that way with no pre-browning.

I'm with you. I could spend the rest of my life hunting ducks in the fall/winter and spring in the turkey and never feel cheated.

Though I do like to flame a deer or two or eats. Deer are groceries to me.

Duck plucking. You know, gals the pluck ducks. There was a group of women that you could drop your ducks off and they'd clean/pluck them for $1.50 a bird. Duck plucking girls.

There ain't a group of women more fun than Cajun women.

Yep!

That's a big part of it. YUGE. Also, if you hunt anything else and actually work for a living, you can't do everything. The thing I cut is duck hunting.

Public hunting areas in Colorado can be pretty bad – overcrowded.
Usually long drives in the wee hours to reach them.
Lotta guys will set up a spread right on top of someone else.
Loose dogs in the dark completely out of control – owners screaming at them.
Late arriving hunters that will not wait for the ducks that are trying to land to walk up on the already set spreads.
The occasional low shots across the water that pepper the guys on the other side. Always results in a shouting match.

I was willing to put up with all of that for years because my dog loved it so much. She lived to fetch. She is gone now and much of my motivation gone with her.
In recent years the few times I’ve ventured out and come home with one or two ducks my wife and I have both commented on how good they tasted and how me missed having more of them to cook.
Nowdays my neighbor is a cornfield so it is pretty easy to pick off an occasional goose without going anywhere. I have a lot less incentive to drive half the night to participate in the circus.

Treat duck like beef and you'll love it. Stroganoff, stew, stir fry, etc. I love it ground up and used for chilli, lasagna, burritos, you name it.

And duck hunting doesn't have to be expensive. If you do your homework with scouting, you can find the birds and avoid the other hunters. Used decoys are everywhere, waders are probably the second biggest expense after the gun.

Love it, love it, love it. And so do the daughters.

Duck hunting has gotten outrageously expensive and that has lead to the decline in access. Those living in the south know that there are good public spots, but they are so run over with yahoos, it'll drive you out of the chase. To get a good private spot, plan on spending way more than it costs to be an out of state combo tag in MT. And honestly, that would be cheap on a mediocre field.

I am lucky to be a member in a longtime club where I'm in a group of guys who hate 'em as bad as I do. I personally try to hunt 20 days of the season, that's getting harder and harder to do, but I will always skip sleep to go kill ducks. 12 AM leave times on Saturday morning to drive 4 hours and get there for shooting time is the norm.

My family of five has eaten over 200 ducks since last season closed. If you don't want to eat it, don't shoot 'em and leave 'em for us.

I kill my share of big game too (those ducks don't last long) and if you have any ability to cook vension, you should be able to properly cook duck meat.

I just walk up to the tank and shoot them when they get over hard ground.




Dave

I've heard stories of American outfitters going up to Canada and trying to lock locals out of their areas. Shame so many dickhead want to ruin it for the rest of us.

I've hunted Saskatchewan afew times on a friend's farm for snows and ducks. What a blast to see thousands of geese and ducks a day. You really are blessed up north with great hunting and fishing

Heading up to Viking Alberta next month to hunt another friend's farm. Have not been there yet but hear recently from him that they are harvesting now and expect a really good year

cant beat the good folks up north

If I'm hunting with anyone, I'll be glad to take a few ducks home if they don't want em. Taken care of properly they are real hard to beat. The few I get here are northern mallards for the most part, corn fed.

I used to hunt ducks a lot, when I lived in northern Alberta. But my ex-wife didn't care for the taste of duck and loved pheasant, so I gravitated to pheasant hunting instead. I still hunted ducks a lot, some over dekes, but mostly jump shooting prairie creeks and sloughs. More than once I've walked up to a dugout slough and killed a limit of flushing mallards with 2 shots. Not my chosen hunting method, but you take what Ma Nature gives you and don't ask questions!

I agree, the equipment list and workload for good decoy hunting is mor than for a lot of other sports, but it's worth it. I don't mind the extra money I spend on non-toxic shot because I don't shoot enough of it to be a burden, but if I hunted 20 days a season, it would sure add up. I load my own shells using Ballistic Products ITX shot... the stuff is phenomenally deadly and it allows me to hunt with my old double guns, so it's worth the extra dough for me. I have good duck hunter friends down here on the Gulf Coast now, so I expect to do a lot more duck hunting than I did on the past 15-20 years when I lived in in duck deserts.

I can't abide crowds, so I scout for places that are lightly hunted. Guided hunts are a good way to go, reasonable prices are there for the asking if you look. Here in TX there are a number of good guide outfits in the Panhandle and down here on the coast. Guys who don't blink at paying $5000 to hunt trophy deer will choke at a duck guide charging $500 for a weekend, though. I gu s it takes all kinds.

As for eating... there is no meal finer than roast mallard with wild rice. I grew up eating 'em, and I cook them just like Mom did. Slice up an apple and an onion and an orange, stuff the bird with the fruit, roast 'em for 20 minutes at 450 or so. Meat should be medium rare, and they are self-basting with all that good fat under the crispy skin. Even better, cook them in a covered charcoal grill. Mallard, blacks, pintails, woodies are best. Most of the other puddle ducks are too small to bother plucking, so they get breasted out and I flash fry them in butter with light breading, salt and pepper, and chopped garlic in the melted butter. Gadwall, shoveler, and some of the stronger ducks get brined and marinated, then roasted like mallards. But you have to leave the skin on. Cover them with bacon if you must, but I like duck that tastes like duck, not pig. YMMV.

Plucking gals up in Canada are easy to find at the nearest Hutterite colony. Down here I have yet to find some, but there should be some gals who do that work. Otherwise you can do it yourself if you invest in one of those rubber fingers machines. They work even better if you scald the birds first, but add a few drops of Dawn dish soap to the water to break the seal on the feathers so the hot water can penetrate.

Sheeeeittt!!

There's more people duck hunting than ever. Thanks to duck dynasty every 19 yr old with an LED light bar wants to be a duck hunter.

Went teal hunting this morning ,took 90 year old friend .he has gotten me into a lot of ducks over the years.we did not shoot a thing this morning.Had a good time 15 minutes from house.

Here too. Don't forget the beards...

That was the only way we duck hunted when I was a kid. We have two big stock tanks and a big creek on the old home place Ranch.
And we knew every farmer & rancher for miles around who would let us jump shoot their tanks too. We killed the crap out of them.

I just bought a new Remington Turkey / Duck gun in 12 ga that's Camo with a 21" rem choke barrel the other day. Plan to take a couple of the nephews to do some duck hunting this season. It will be the first time in almost 10 years for me.

Duck Dynasty is a good explanation why my "promotion" of hunting starts and stops with my kids.



Dave

I have had the good fortune to hunt the same piece of property in south Louisiana since 1973. In the past 43 seasons we have seen many changes in the marsh/swamp. We are far enough north to not be effected by coastal erosion, but several hurricanes have created new ponds and filled in old ones. Native trees on a 200 acre portion have died and the area basically turned from swamp to marsh. Back in the late 70's we had an area the ducks would use as a roost. It was great pleasure to watch the mallards pour in right at dark.

Beginning in 2000 we started to see a drop in duck numbers. Since then we have not enjoyed a great season. We have killed some birds, with a couple of years being good, but a lot of years are just plain terrible. I will hunt there until I die but feel the best of our duck hunting is behind us.

We leave for Cold Lake Alberta in a couple of weeks to go duck/goose hunting. This is our fourth consecutive year to go. The duck and goose numbers there are unbelievable. The only bad thing is I cannot hunt with my dogs.

I am lucky if I kill 1 or 2 woodies with an occasional mallard on each outing. There are better places to hunt than where I go but my son and I have the swamp to ourselves. We bring our retriever and have a fun couple of hours. I love watching it barely get light out and hearing "oo-eek, oo-eek" as the woodies streak by. Unless there are bigger ducks around, the best wood duck hunting ends after the first hour or so.

Kinda funny but we have a pond behind the house and I probably saw more woodies there this year than what we killed in the swamp. It is a residential area we we don't hunt it. We put out corn all winter into the summer to keep the ducks there and enjoy them from our kitchen window. After a while, they are trained to swim in and get the corn. I even had them come into the yard and eat scratch with the chickens. Mallards adapt really easy but the wood ducks stay a little shy. I never thought we could feed the woodies like that as shy as they are.

The best part this past year was that 2 different hen mallards had ducklings. I think the woodies did too because the numbers shot up. They all left for parts unknown when the summer came. We look forward to seeing ducks back there every year. It's like watching duck TV from the kitchen window.

I think all you need to bring a dog from the US to Canada is proof of current rabies vaccination. See Canada Regulations

However, I realize that you might not want to transport a dog via plane -- or perhaps it is very expensive?

In any case, hunting with your own dog adds another level of enjoyment, so I hope you can take your dog!

Also, a young dog will get a YUGE amount of experience in a short time there. Just don't shoot any sandhill cranes for your dog to retrieve though -- being stabbed by the bill of a crippled crane will turn most dogs off and they may not want to ever retrieve a bird again! Seriously.

In any case, you will love your trip to Alberta! The folks are very friendly (e.g. BC30cal, DocRocket here on the 'Fire!) and as you say, the goose and duck numbers are off the chart!

Also, these young of the year northern birds haven't been "educated" by hunters yet, so they can sure provide some exciting hunting! When I lived on the Canadian prairies, I got a kick out of calling a flock in, shooting some, then calling the flock back in to shoot some more! I almost felt guilty, but I did like to see that my calling wasn't too bad! <insert evil grin here!>

John

We used to jump them off ponds, that's fun!!

Sneaking creeks for wood ducks is a favorite of mine. Stay back enough, go slow, look ahead for ripples on the water, but a move on them.

We did a bunch of sneak hunting in Alaska too. There was WAY too much water to wait them out in a single spot, mostly.

John,

This is our forth trip and the previous three were all great. In regards to the dogs, it is not a regulation or money issue, I just prefer not to fly my them. Our female is 10 and I think it would be a little stressful for her.



On my lease my lease in Louisiana.



Hunting in the marsh can be tough.






It was a little cold in Canada last year.

This is sooooo true. Teenage kids around here have their duck calls with them all, the time. They had to ban the calls at a local high school a couple years ago. Since then, the crazed has slowed a bit, likely due to low success rates versus the effort involved.

I grew up in central ND doing the same. We essentially hunted ducks like they were upland game. Dugout stock ponds with the mounds on each side were basically murder holes.

Kudos to all waterfowl hunters! Just never was my thing.

Haven't waterfowl hunted since 1990 or there abouts. But, being married to an Asian women, she buys and cooks duck on occasion just like that strips recipe. Dang! Damn things are excellent. I'll have to show her this.

It's not that expensive if you have the right friends!!! I let them buy the boats, dekes, and dogs. They get hard up for a pard they call me and I always go, so they know they have a pard whenever they need one. Works for me.

Thats OK, youre not much in the fishing buddy department either, but you are a darned good cook.

You need ducks to have duck hunting, and duck hunters. Too few of the ducks where I can go, and still too many of the hunters. Puddle ducks are delicious if not overcooked.

A FRICKIN MEN!!!


For years I was the only hunter on our part of the river

DD comes along and every cousin jumper with a beard buys a boat and is suddenly a duck hunter

Can't tell you how many times guys would wait to follow me out of the launch to see where I was hunting. Usually never twice though...

They would buy boats with prop drive motors, which don't do well in ankle deep shallows

Hi Mike

Thanks for taking the time to reply! Ten isn't REALLY old, but it is sure getting up there for a working dog and I understand. I hope you have many more years left with her.

Man, those muddy conditions at your lease in Louisiana sure looks like tough work for a dog -- or a hunter!

Coming in from a cold late-season hunt that went really well and then relaxing in the evening always gave me a great sense of accomplishment and peace.

John

Those are some big ass mallards! They are the size of our geese!